The Idea Lab

Economists call it "the jobs multiplier effect" -- each new job created in turn supports other new jobs. A new pool of workers means new salaries being spent in local economies for everyday needs at places like the supermarket, the car dealer, or the dentist.

There's a constructive role for the federal government to play in expanding and diversifying America's energy sources, but it is not the role we are seeing from the Obama administration. The Solyndra scandal is the most obvious example of an energy policy that has gone off course, but it is far from the only one.

President Obama has sent his proposed $447 billion spending bill to Congress, which he promises will revive our economy from its chronic state of sedation.... The President pledged that his new jobs plan "will provide a jolt to an economy that has stalled and give companies confidence that if they invest and hire, there will be customers for their products and services."

When Republicans regained a majority in the U.S. House of Representatives, we embraced the parallel goals of job creation and energy security. Both are essential to America's long-term economic competitiveness, and both can be achieved by expanding the production of American energy.

Over the past decade, the continued loss of middle-class jobs has stoked anxiety and shattered dreams of many Americans. Factors largely outside of policymakers' control -- like globalization's spread and technology-based efficiency gains -- contribute to some of today's anemic employment conditions.